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/lit/ - Literature

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7284007 No.7284007 [Reply] [Original]

Any recommendations for literature that deals with solitude?

I'm working overseas and my job doesn't require a lot of socialization, consequently I can go a week without even seeing another person (let alone interacting or carrying on a conversation). I've been alternating between feeling incredibly depressed/romantic about it lately, but in either mood the catharsis from reading has been very powerful

Nietzche, Rousseau's Les Rêveries and the Tao te Jing have been my standard rotation for about a month now but I'm looking for something new that might scratch the same itch

Any recommendations?

Yes, I've checked the sticky

>> No.7284012

>>7284007
1. & Yet & Yet is their best album
2. Schopenhaur

>> No.7284013
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7284013

>>7284007
when you are alone, you can either
-dwell in your mind which is here to make you think of anything but the present moment
nihilists love this
OR
-observe your self and whatever arises inside of you and outside of you, such as your breath
--you can then unify your self (which you take as your mind, typically)
or
--you can dissociate your self from what you observe

on any case, boredom, angst, solitude is the best way to acquire knowledge. nothing is gained mobility, and immobility of body and of mind reveals the reality.

here is an exposition on what to do alone http://pastebin.com/YGx4cg6u

>> No.7284052

>Tao te Jing
READ ZHUANGZHI NOW
It's far, far better and it's much better for repeat readings.

>> No.7284337

David Foster Wallace said that Wittgenstein's Mistress was the best book about loneliness since William H. Gass's Omensetters Luck.

I haven't read either though and can't verify.
>>7284012
THIS DUDE KNOWS THE GLORY OF &Y&Y

>> No.7284348
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7284348

>> No.7284899

How many years of solitude we talkin about?

>> No.7285448

>>7284007
You're looking for The Book of Disquiet.

>> No.7285462

>>7284337
Wallace had a really bad taste in books and movies. I read Cynthia Ozick based on his recommendation and hated her. I watched The Computer Wore Tennis Shoes based on his recommendation and it was garbage. So I wouldn't use DFW as a source on what is the "best" anything.

>> No.7285472

>>7284337
I have read both
wittgenstein's mistress is pretty depressing but david markson knew fuck all about wittgenstein (or art for that matter, many of his other books are similar in style and revolve around artistic anecdotes, I think he googled them or had a reference text)
omensetters luck is :/
I can take gass but only in small doses

>> No.7285478

>>7284899

[Good post]

>> No.7285495

>>7285472
so you don't need to read PI or the tractus for markson?